Brand New World Same Old Shtako
by plshade
Summary: The world was changed considerably after the aliens arrived and the Arks began to fall. The terraforming event that followed completely transformed not only the earth, but many of it's inhabitants. Those who were born with abilities before the fall have lost the most as they try to live in this different world. One such person searches for those he once knew and help those he can.
1. Prologue

Brand New World / Same Old Shtako

AN; "Speech"_ - (Thoughts)_

Disclaimer: I do not own the following characters and world as they belong to someone else. In other words;

**Don't want them. Don't need them. Couldn't afford them if I did.**

* * *

Prologue

A man is walking leisurely down a winding stretch of dirt road, in a long brown duster with the hood drawn up and carrying a long pole of dark wood across his shoulders. He slowed to a stop as a loud rumbling could be heard off in the distance. He glance around and then looked up as a large burning mass entered the atmosphere.

The man dropped the pole, end first onto the ground and leaned it against his shoulder. He then reached up and pulled the hood back, revealing the the features of a young man in his late twenties to early thirties. His messy brown hair, vibrant green eyes and an almost faded lightning shaped scar on his forehead marked him The Wizarding World's Chosen One, Harry Potter.

Harry shaded his eyes with his hands as he watched the flaming debris move across the sky above him, leaving a trail of fire and smoke behind it. This type of event isn't as unusual to him as it was when he first woke up. It seemed to him that more and more debris of all shapes and sizes were falling out of orbit all the time lately, though this one was by far the largest he had witnessed in a long time.

_(Arkfall, they call it)_, Harry thought to himself. Then there came another loud roaring sound. This time from behind, causing him to turn around just as a vehicle barreled past, headed in the direction of the falling object. For some strange reason, he felt an odd pull coming from the car and was intrigued.

Harry cocked his head, briefly in thought. Then he reached into his duster and pulled out a rolled up piece of material that was bigger than the coat itself. Harry unrolled it onto the ground, revealing a small piece of carpet about two feet wide and three feet long. Then he place his right hand in the center for a moment and then the carpet seemed to ripple for a second before settling back down onto the ground.

Moving his hand forward slightly while keeping in contact with the carpet, Harry quickly knelt down with his quarterstaff gripped in his left hand. With a brief look of concentration, the carpet rose close a hundred feet into the air before turning to follow in the direction of the roller.

* * *

It was nighttime when Harry came across a large group of Irathients gathered around the burning carcass of a fallen Ark. Movement at one of the many openings caught his attention as a human and five more Irathients exited the bulk. The larger Irathient was holding a smaller female Irathi captive as the man argued over the others raiding his ride.

His eyes widened in surprise as he watched the Irathi girl stab her captor before taking off with the man in a running gunfight with the other Irathients.

_(Those two work well together.)_

Harry followed the two silently as they raced through the wooded area in an effort to escape their pursuers. He watched as the Irathient girl fell to the ground in pain. The man doubled back and picked her up and continued on. Eventually both fell to the ground in a heap.

The wizard dropped down from the high branch he was perched on, landing next to the two and quickly placed a hand on each of them. _(Healing was never my strong suit, even before the Voltans came and changed everything, but I still got to try.)_

A soft glow appeared around his hands and spread across their bodies for several seconds before disappearing suddenly as a noise alerted him that they were not alone. Looking up, he came face to face with a Saberwolf. Instincts kicked in and he felt his eyes burn for a second. The creature slowed to a stop and became eerily still. Harry wasted no time and stepped up to the Saberwolf and, holding his quarterstaff by the end, swung it like a club on top of the large creature's head, driving the large body into the ground. More sounds erupted around them and he saw several more of the same creatures.

"Oh, bugger!" he swore softly and tensed for a fight. That was when heard shots fired from his right. He turned, finding that the man was up and shooting at the Saberwolf closest to him. Of course the man didn't notice the rest of the pack until it was too late.

Harry was about to intervene when more shots erupted from off to the side, driving off the remaining Saberwolves. Several people arrived on the scene to help the two that he had been following. The older man in the lead, who looked familiar to Harry, let the others pick up the Irathient girl while he helped her partner.

Deciding to let things play out, and see where they would go, Harry quietly backed away before anyone noticed him and silently climbed back up the tree next to where he landed. He quietly moved to the branch he jumped from and picked up the carpet that he had left hanging there. After putting away the carpet, Harry dropped back down to the ground and followed the group. From the direction that the group was headed, he had an idea as to their destination. Than suited Harry just fine as that was his next stop.

After walking a short distance, a familiar energy barrier came into view, verifying to Harry as to their destination. He had to chuckle a little as he listened to the two men in the lead.

"That Arch.. Is this Saint Louis?"

"Once. Now we call it Defiance."

tbc


	2. Chapter 1 - Stop by to say hi

Brand New World / Same Old Shtako

AN; "Speech" - _(Thoughts) _ **- ** ***Alien Language***

Disclaimer: While the concept is mine, I do not own the characters I'm playing with, nor the worlds I'm playing in as they belong to someone else. In other words;

**Don't want them. Don't need them. Couldn't afford them if I did.**

However I do reserve the right to alter/change/improve this fic without notice.

* * *

Chapter One

To Harry Potter, the town of Defiance was just as he remembered. It had been almost eight months since he was last here and he found that very little had changed. Walking casually down the street, he took in the familiar sights, but one thing that was different was that is seemed like at least half the people in the town was out and about.

_(There is definitely something going on today.)_ Harry thought to himself.

After wandering around for a few minutes, Harry chuckled softly to himself when he found himself standing in front of the Needwant of all places. He didn't even remember heading in this direction and yet here he was. With a chuckle he stepped into the establishment, noticing that very little had changed, other than a few cosmetic additions to make the place look more colorful and inviting.

Harry moved around the room, subconsciously avoiding the few customers there that were enjoying themselves, until he spotted a familiar face standing behind the bar. _(Kenya Rosewater,)_ Harry grinned. He quickly stepped up to the bar just as Kenya turned to hand off a bottle to one of her employees.

"Hullo Kenya," Harry said.

The brunette woman behind bar jumped slightly, nearly dropping the bottle in her hands. She cursed quietly to herself as she handed the bottle to her employee and then nonchalantly turned to greet the speaker. When she saw who had spoken to her, Kenya almost squealed as she rushed around the counter and engulfed the person in a strong hug.

"Harry!" she pulled back and looked up at him. "When did you get back into town?"

"I just arrived and figured that I better check in with my favorite Rosewater sister in the whole world." Harry replied as he looked around. "Speaking of which, where is that pretty, blonde sister of yours?"

Kenya's mouth open and closed a couple times before settling in a frown. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she poked Harry in his chest. "I had better not just heard you say that you prefer my sister's company more than mine."

The tone of implied violence that Harry could hear in her voice caused him to quickly raise his hands in surrender. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I was just messing with you, Kenya," when her expression turned darker, Harry continued on, "I swear, she-who-shall-not-be-named pales in comparison to the beautiful raven-haired goddess standing before me. Please forgive this poor common soul for his relapse into being a right git," he finished grandly, going down on one knee.

Eyes still stormy, but the corners of Kenya's lips curved slightly upwards despite her best attempt to not smile. She leaned forward to say something but stopped. Kenya wrinkled her nose as she looked him over with a critical eye. She suddenly grabbed Harry by the ear and dragged him off, muttering that he smelled almost as bad the miners.

"Oi Kenya! What the hell?" Harry yelped, bending to the pain and letting himself be led up the stairs.

Harry soon found himself deposited in a small room with an old porcelain bathtub that was already filled with warm water. Kenya pointed imperially at the tub before leaving the room. Laughing, he set his quarterstaff against the wall and quickly divested himself of his clothes. After raising the temperature of the water to a near boil, Harry lowered himself into the tub and finally relaxed.

A short while later, Harry climbed out and dried himself off. He grabbed his belt that had several pouches attached and opened one up. He reached in and pulled out a few pieces of what looked like doll-sized clothing. He picked up the tiny shirt between thumb and forefinger, a brief look of concentration crossed his face and the article of clothing quickly enlarged to normal size. He did this with each piece and got dressed.

Once finished, Harry grabbed the clothes he arrived in off the floor. Each one shrunk down in his hand and he stuffed them into a different pouch on his belt, which he had secured around his waist. Harry then looked down at his right hand for a moment. After ten seconds a faint glow surrounded his hand and he lowered it palm down into the tub. Slowly the water began to clear as the soap and dirt was being drawn to his hand until the remaining water looked as clean as it was before he got in. He carefully closed his hand into a fist and pulled it out of the water. Moving to the closest open window, Harry stuck his hand out and dropped a soggy ball of dust and dirt over the edge.

Harry turned away from the window and let his eyes drift over the room, looking for anything he might have missed. Seeing nothing of his lying about, Harry picked up his duster coat and inspected the three leather loops covered by mesh webbing on the back. Grabbing his quarterstaff, Harry slipped it through the loops, starting at the one attached at the right shoulder, then the one in the middle of the back, and finally in the one just above the left hip. He pulled on the mesh webbing, making sure that it was tight enough to hold the quarterstaff in place. Satisfied, Harry picked up the coat and put it on.

After that was done, Harry left the room in search for Kenya. Walking down the stairs, he once again found her standing behind the bar chatting up a customer. He waited until she was done before catching her attention.

"Kenya," he said, stepping up to the bar.

Kenya turned and smiled as she came around to inspect him. "That is much better, Harry," she nodded in satisfaction. "Now you look like a proper escort instead of looking like an unkempt barbarian."

"Wait! What? Escort?"

Kenya just giggled and grabbed his arm as she headed outside. Harry noticed that just like earlier, it seemed that half the town was outside and having a very good time too by the looks of things.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Everyone is celebrating the anniversary of the end of the Pale Wars and the founding of Defiance." Kenya replied, then noticed he was wearing his coat.

"How can you stand wearing that thing," Kenya asked. "I would be cooked alive inside it."

Harry just smiled. "It helps keep me cool."

Kenya narrowed her eyes at him before muttering to herself and pulled on Harry's arm once again. "C'mon, Amanda should be about to ready give her speech!"

The two came upon the large gathering of people milling around in front of a stage where the statuesque blonde, Amanda was fiddling with some papers behind a podium, while Mayor Nicolette sat off the blonde's right. Harry recognized the Human and Castithan families that flanked her. The McCawleys and the Tarrs.

_(Brilliant. Just what I need,)_ Harry grimaced. Deciding that the edge of the crowd was as far as he wanted to go, Harry deftly removed himself from his friend's grasp without her noticing.

Kenya had pushed past a few people to get closer before she noticed that Harry was no longer with her. Looking back through the crowd, she quickly located her friend and moved toward him.

"What's wrong?"

Harry looked at her and smiled. "Nothing. I just was going to stay back and avoid gits, er I mean the crowd."

Kenya gave him an inquiring look.

Harry just shook his head. "I remember your sister's speaking ability from last time I was here and was not impressed. She could give my old history teacher a run for his scrip as the most boring speaker."

"Amanda's not that bad!" Kenya denied in defense of her sister, slapping him on his shoulder. "Besides, somebody else wrote that speech for her."

Harry just chuckled and pointed to the stage. "I take it that Nicolette is finally stepping down, and naming Amanda as her successor?"

Kenya shrugged. "Actually that happened three weeks ago. You would know that if you can back when you said you would."

"I am sorry about that, Kenya," Harry shrugged. "But I've been in the middle of tracking down a lead out in the Badlands for the last couple of months. There were sightings of a mutated creature roaming around that looked more like an old Earth wolf that walked on two legs like a human."

"Really?!" Kenya inquired as she smiled and waved to someone in the crowd. "What happened?"

"I had managed to track it down but it wasn't what everyone was telling me," Harry closed his eyes and grimaced. "Turns out that it was just a old man. Sure he would probably considered a mutant by some people, but he was still remarkably human. I learned from him that he had been slightly changed by the terraformer event while his family was taking refuge inside a zoo."

Kenya turned to Harry with a horrified look. "That's terrible!"

Harry did not reply as his opinion of what actually happened was probably both a blessing and a curse for the ones involved. He had been surprised to find a pair of werewolves, who had been changed drastically by the Terraforming Event of 2030. From what he was told, there were several werewolf clans that had lived outside the protection of the magical communities. _(According to Mark,)_ Harry thought of the werewolf that he had met. _(all of them were changed during that disaster in the same way. I understand that they are happy but I don't know If I would want to be in their shoes.)_

"What about the people that you went looking for. Did you have any luck at all?"

That shook Harry out of his memories. "No," Harry grunted. "There's been nothing new to be found." _(Not to mention that I haven't been able to find even a whiff of any of the magical communities we were trying to evacuate at the time. Though after trading ideas with Mark and considering what happened to them and myself, at least I now have some possible clues as to what happened.)_

"Well, I'm sure you will find them," Kenya gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.

"Thanks," Harry gave her a small smile and then looked back up to the stage. "Looks like your sister started without us."

Less than a few minutes later the crowd started applauding and shouting out 'Defiance'. The speech went pretty much like Harry thought - stilted and hesitant without any real emotion showing in Amanda's voice.

"Well I guess the show is about done since both the poodle and the bulldog are up there strutting about like peacocks on either side of your sister."

"Be nice, Harry" Kenya rebuked him firmly.

"Whatever you say, dear," Harry gave her an indulgent smile and turned to head back. Before he could go far, Kenya grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Nuh uh," Kenya peered through the crowd and began pulling Harry in a new direction. "You asked where Amanda was earlier and we would be remiss if we didn't congratulate her on her speech."

"Why don't we just say we did and head back to the Needwant," Harry asked.

"After that comment you made when you first arrived," Kenya just pulled harder on his arm. "I think it's just the punishment you deserve."

Harry heard someone mention being made to feel old just as they came around the corner of the new monument and found both Nicolette and Amanda standing together.

"Amanda," Kenya let go of Harry to give her sister a hug. "That was a great speech."

"Thanks Kenya. I-" Amanda pulled back as she saw Harry standing behind her sister. "You! What are you doing here?!"

"Top of the morning to you too, Mandy my luv." Harry replied with a smirk.

Amanda took a step forward and literally growled, which caused looks of surprise to be echoed on the faces of both Nicky and Kenya. Harry found this display to be both adorable and hilarious at the same time. It reminded him of Hermione in a way. That thought instantly killed Harry's mood.

Harry raised both hands. "I'm sorry Amanda. I remember how you don't like to be called 'Mandy'."

Amanda straightened up and crossed her arms in front of her. She briefly closed her eyes and took a few seconds to calm down. "Fine, apology accepted."

"Fair Nicolette," Harry turned, took the former Mayor's hand into his and kissed the back of it. "It's seems like all I'm doing today is apologizing to beautiful women. There must be something that I have to apologize to you for. Some misdeed that I don't know I did but need to answer for."

Nicky just chuckled and patted his hand. "My dear Sir, you flatter an old woman."

"Old? Please," Harry stepped back and looked her up and down. "Any man would count himself extremely lucky to gain your fancy, even if brief."

Kenya stepped up to her sister's side and poked her not too gently in the ribs. The blonde jumped slightly and turned to give her sister a hostile glare, which Kenya simply replied with a pointed stare before nodding in Harry's direction.

Amanda slumped slightly in defeat. "Harry?"

The man in question turned towards Amanda, slightly wary at the odd tone in her voice. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry also. It was rude of me to treat you like I did just now."

All were silent for a moment, though Harry saw that Kenya wore a pleased look. "Thank you, Amanda. I do appreciate it."

Amanda smiled slightly and nodded. She was going to speak but was interrupted by her former boss.

"Well, if Amanda isn't going to ask again, I might as well stick my nose in and ask what you are doing here in town."

"Nothing much at the moment," Harry clasped his hands behind his back. "I was just passing through the area and came across your Lawkeepers dragging the two Ark Hunters here. So I decided to tag along and drop by the Needwant and say hi to Kenya."

"Which was long overdue," Kenya stated. "You said that you would be back months ago.".

"And I said that I was sorry, Kenya."

"Wait a minute," Amanda interrupted. "Clancy didn't mention that you were with the other two."

"That's because I'm not," Harry replied. "I just followed everyone into town once the Stasis Net was turned off."

"But-"

"But nothing Amanda," Kenya stopped her sister. "Now I have to get back to the Needwant and Harry is going to escort me there."

With that, Kenya took Harry's offered arm and both proceeded to move through the thinning crowd and back to the Needwant leaving a frustrated Amanda and a curious Nicolette to watch them leave.

Once the two were well past the the most the the town's citizens, Harry looked over at Kenya. "As much fun as that was, I'm afraid that I will have to leave you here. There is someone I need to talk to while I'm in Defiance."

Kenya pouted for a moment, but relented when it became apparent that she was having no effect on her friend. "Fine, but I better see you later."

Harry stepped away from her and bowed grandly. "But of course, Mi'lady. You know there is no one's company I prefer more than yours."

Kenya reached up and kissed his cheek, then turned and walked towards the Needwant. Harry just stood that and watched with a light smirk. When she disappeared from view, Harry turned in a different direction and started walking.

_(In a way, Kenya never fails to remind me of Ginny.)_

That thought had stopped him cold. Harry closed his eyes and released a resigned sigh. It had taken him months to get to a point where he could think about his friends and loved ones and not feel overwhelmed by his emotions. It was hard trying to come to grips over his losses and work to regain his control over his magic. While he missed everyone terribly, Harry was able to move on. And now after meeting that werewolf family, he had some hope of finding the others from his team.

But right now Harry had to find an infobroker and that meant a trip to the Hollows.

tbc


End file.
